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Citing recent events at Oroville Dam, two congressmen have introduced a bill to speed up approval of a new reservoir in Northern California.

The bill, HR1269, would accelerate federal review of the proposed Sites Reservoir and give officials a better chance at funding for the project under Proposition 1 bond funding, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale.

“The recent incident involving the Oroville Dam is testament to the fact that California needs better water infrastructure,” LaMalfa said in a statement.

Federal, state and local officials are pushing a new reservoir 10 miles west of Maxwell in Colusa County. The reservoir, about a third of the size of Lake Shasta, would be filled with water pumped in from the Sacramento River and used for irrigation and drinking water.

The authority wants to apply for funding under a $7.5 billion water bond approved by voters in 2014.

Sites Reservoir General Manager Jim Watson said last year that the project could cost about $4.4 billion, with about half that paid for through the water bond.

The reservoir would be filled when there are high flows in the Sacramento River.

The bill would speed up the federal review of the proposed reservoir so an application for funding could be submitted by the June deadline, said Fritz Durst, vice chairman of the Sites Reservoir Joint Powers Authority.

If officials with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and California Department of Water Resources have all their documentation completed and work together on a proposal it is more likely bond money would be approved, Durst said.

LaMalfa and U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Davis, introduced a similar bill in February 2015, also hoping to speed up federal review of the reservoir. Two years later, though, the congressmen are still seeking accelerated review of the project.

Two years ago LaMalfa and Garamendi said the state's historic drought highlighted the need for more water storage in Northern California. Rains the past couple years have eased the drought in Northern California. But the reviews for Sites continue.

This time, LaMalfa is invoking the near disaster at Oroville Dam, as an argument for speeding up review of the Sites proposal. Last month some 188,000 people were evacuated downstream of the dam as officials worried the dam's emergency spillway was in imminent danger of collapse.

Durst said building Sites Reservoir would help keep other Northern California reservoirs full. He said cold water in Lake Shasta, needed by endangered winter-run chinook salmon in the Sacramento River, could be saved until it is needed in the fall.

Water for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, as well as drinking water and irrigation, could come from water stored in Sites, Durst said. It would also provide enough water for some 7 million people in the state, proponents say.

LaMalfa said Sites Reservoir will give officials greater flexibility in water management.

This will help to ensure that we have adequate storage to capture more water during the wet season and allow us to use that water effectively during times of future drought,” LaMalfa said.

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